RE: ManipulationI'd be curious to see what percentage of these large blocks were being picked up by Chinese holding companies, Donia etc. With China's interest in moving to a gold standard, being the buyer while controlling the producer has its advantages. In the big scheme of things 5M oz (or 12M - tzd) is a drop in the bucket, but a good start.
I think most here would agree that there has been fairly obvious price manipulation, small lots to stop upticks or accelerate downward slides. But who has sufficient holdings to precipitate this action and benefit from it?
You would think that with no debt, 50% of the cap in cash, Barrick, Ashanti, Newmont, etc would be jumping our bones. But this type of manipulation can push the price right back up as fast as it fell.
I expect (hope) that this will be the case when the accumulation/stock swapping is finished, and that will be SOON!!!!
-gf